An Ecocritical Reading of Selected African Poems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47963/jla.v1i1.87Keywords:
Anthropological, Ecocriticism, Negritude, Poetic, SustainabilityAbstract
This paper discusses some ecocritical ideas in selected poems by Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho and the Negritude poets David Diop and Birago Diop. Drawing on postcolonial ecocriticism theory the paper focuses on ecocritical symbolisms and their ramifications in order to show how African poets attend to the environment, community and modernity’s many flaws. The consideration of the Negritude poems in this study stems from the fact that Negritude Literature in general and the selected poems in particular have been examined mainly within the context of Black African identity and the antiracist effort in general. The paper demonstrates that ecological motifs or symbols are deployed by some African poets to express life, survival, and nostalgia.
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References
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Retrieved on 11/12/2018
Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann.
ADUNA. Economic Benefits, Health and Beauty of the Baobab Tree. Available at aduna.com/pages/baobab tree. Retrieved on 11/12/2018
Amanor, J.D (2012). Pentecostalism in Ghana: An African Reformation. Available at
www.pctiii.org/cyberj13/amanor.html. Retrieved on 11/12/2018
Anyidoho, K. (2011). The place we call home and other poems. Oxfordshire: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Limited.
Anyidoho, K. (2002). Praise song for the land: Poems of hope and love and care. Accra: Sub- Saharan Publishers. Asian Social Science Vol. 8, No. 7; June 2012 Available at www.ccsenet.org/ass
Awoonor, K. (1964) “The Cathedral”. Rediscovery and Other Poems. Available at https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-cathedral-4/. Retrieved on 11/12/2018.
Awoonor, K. (2014). The promise of hope: New and selected poems, 1964-2013. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Awoonor, K. (2014). “The Weaver Bird”. New and selected poem, 1964-2013. Poetry Foundation Web.
Awoonor, K. “The Weather Bird”. Rediscovery and Other Poems. Available at https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/kofi-awoonor- the-weaver-bird/Retrieved 11/12/2018
Diop, D. (1956). “Nigger Tramp”. Coups de Pilon. Paris: Présence Africaine.
Diop, D. (1956) “Afrique mon Afrique” Translated as “Africa my Africa”. Coups de Pilon. Paris: Présence Africaine.
Diop, D. (1976). “Vanity” in Senanu, K. E. and Vincent, T. (ed.) A Selection of African Poetry. England: Longman Group Ltd.
Diop, B. (1976). “The Vultures” and “Africa” in Senanu, K. E. and Vincent, T. (ed.) A Selection of African Poetry. England: Longman Group Ltd.
Egudu, R.N. (1978). Modern African Poetry and the African Predicament Macmillan: New York Encyclopedia of World Biography (2004). Diop, David Mandessi. The Gale Group Inc.
Available at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc. Retrieved on 11/12/2018. Univ. Press, Amazon (p. 162).
Gramsci, A. (1971). Prison Notebooks. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Huggan, G., & Tiffin, H. (2010). Postcolonial Ecocriticism: Literature. Animals, Environment. London and New York: Routledge.
Okrah, O. (2014). Images Portraying Western Religion as Lifeless In the Poem “The Cathedral” By Kofi Awoonor: Available at www.academia.edu. Retrieved on 11/12/2018
Ruby, G. (2007). Poems of Robert Frost – olkopoetic dimension. Available at http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/116626 retrieved on 11/12/18.
Senanu, K.E & Vincent, T. (1976). A selection of African poetry: Revised and enlarged edition. UK: Longman Group Limitedhttps://afrilingual.worldpress.com Accessed on 21/06/2016
Sun International (2014). Fact and Folklore of Africa’s Mighty Baobab Tree. Available at www.suninternational.com. Retrieved on 11/12/2018
Umar, I. (2014). Myth and Symbol in Kofi Awoonor’s Poetic Art. Available at https://plus.google.com/+isunoyaUmarTheGlobeStreamFlow/posts/FSah8Cr4m78.
Retrieved on 11/12/2018.
Yeboah, S.A. and Dargbazi, S. African Literature: Discussing Thematic Concerns in “The Cathedral” of Awoonor and Other African Writers. Available at https://www.google.com/search?safe=strict&source=hp&ei. Retrieved on 11/12/2018.
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Published
2019-12-19
How to Cite
Traoré, M. (2019). An Ecocritical Reading of Selected African Poems. KENTE - Cape Coast Journal of Literature and the Arts, 1(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.47963/jla.v1i1.87
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